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FILM; Dean Stockwell, Happy at Last in Hollywood

Published: September 11, 1988

In 1945, a beatific lost boy was befriended by a madcap sailor with a penchant for tap-dancing in the breezy M-G-M musical ''Anchors Aweigh.''

More than 40 years and 55 films later, that curly-haired waif is in the midst of a second Hollywood comeback, portraying a salacious Mafia don in Jonathan Demme's ''Married to the Mob'' and an edgy Howard Hughes in Francis Ford Coppola's ''Tucker: The Man and His Dream.''

Dean Stockwell is 52 now, but for the first time in his vertiginous career he is enjoying making movies. An unhappy child actor at M-G-M in the 40's, Mr. Stockwell had seen enough stars and scripts, gaffers and grips by the time he was 16. Fleeing Hollywood to become an anonymous roustabout, he eventually returned to his craft in 1956, appearing in such outstanding films as Richard Fleischer's ''Compulsion'' and Sidney Lumet's screen version of Eugene O'Neill's ''Long Day's Journey Into Night.'' The cherub seen scampering with a toe-tapping Gene Kelly in ''Anchors Aweigh'' had turned into a dark, intense, charismatic leading man. Particularly indelible in movie memories is his portrayal of a brooding, tubercular Edmund Tyrone opposite Jason Robards, Katharine Hepburn and Sir Ralph Richardson in O'Neill's trenchant tragedy.

But while he received acting honors at Cannes for both ''Long Day's Journey'' and ''Compulsion,'' Mr. Stockwell deserted the movie cameras once more to join the 60's counterculture movement. He embraced the hippie ethos, attending art exhibition openings and listening to such gurus as Wallace Berman, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg and Michael McClure. A close friend during this tendentious time was Dennis Hopper, who would later direct and star in a film that would symbolize the movement and galvanize its followers: ''Easy Rider.''

When Mr. Stockwell decided to resume his acting career in the late 60's, he collided with a dozen Hollywood cliches. ''You think those adages couldn't possibly be true, but then you find out they are,'' says the actor. '' 'Out of sight, out of mind,' 'What have you done lately?'; I even heard about a casting meeting where the producer said, 'We need a Dean Stockwell type.' Meanwhile, I couldn't even get arrested.''

A dozen years of dinner-theater engagements and frustrating auditions would pass before Mr. Stockwell - who in the early 80's briefly renounced acting again and moved to Santa Fe to sell real estate - would achieve his second comeback. But now after playing the maleficent Dr. Yueh in David Lynch's ''Dune,'' the sympathetic brother in Wim Wenders's ''Paris, Texas,'' the slimy attorney in William Friedkin's ''To Live and Die in L.A.,'' the lip-synching pansexual in Mr. Lynch's ''Blue Velvet,'' the cigar-chomping captain in Mr. Coppola's ''Gardens of Stone'' and a doomed, laconic thief in Tony Scott's ''Beverly Hills Cop II,'' he is finally exploiting all the cinematic techniques he has assimilated over four decades.

And in the latest phase of the Stockwell saga, ''Married to the Mob'' represents a milestone. In this caper about a Mafia widow fed up with mob life, Mr. Stockwell portrays Tony the Tiger, a lecherous don whose fatal flaws involve fast-food joints, diamond necklaces and vindictive women. He's the kind of gangster who calls his mistress ''Lollipop'' and tells his henchmen to ''evaporate for five minutes'' when a pouting siren enters the room.

''When I looked at the script, it was as if I were reading a role I'd been waiting for,'' Mr. Stockwell says. ''That this was a comedy was a huge attraction, because although comedy is part of my arsenal and personality, I have had a reputation for years as a dramatic, serious actor. And beyond the film's romantic-comedic style, I loved Tony: he's dangerous but sexy, powerful but charming.

''In fact, the biggest challenge was to make sure that the audience liked him. And he's Italian and I'm half-Italian, and I had never played a mobster before. So all those things represented something new and that I wanted very much.''

That he was even considered for Tony was fortuitous. ''I had someone else in mind,'' admits Mr. Demme. ''But I picked up the trades, and there was an ad announcing that an actor had changed agencies. I looked at the photo and thought, 'That's the real thing. That guy's scary, intriguing, handsome.' And I read the name and I couldn't believe it! It was Dean Stockwell.'' ''Tucker'' was a different story. The actor had met Mr. Coppola during auditions for ''The Godfather.'' ''Years later, Francis remembered me and cast me in 'Gardens of Stone,' '' says Mr. Stockwell. ''After I did that film, the producer Fred Roos said, 'No one ever works for Francis just once.' ''

Mr. Roos was right. When ''Tucker'' reached pre-production stage, ''they sent me the script with the tacit understanding that I could play either the defense attorney or Hughes,'' says Mr. Stockwell. ''Although the screen time is like 10 times less, I definitely wanted Hughes.''

The actor instantly visualized the part: ''I've had a lot of exposure to that image, like anyone of my generation, so I didn't need to do any research. All I needed was the right mustache.''